During my first semester of college, I had many high expectations.The nature of my classes (exclusive of CPSG) is similar to what I expected of university courses- I didn't think they would be easy. Freshman fall semester, my classes were: CALC140, CHEM177, ENGL101, INAG110, UNIV101, and CPSG100. Since I already took calculus in high school, the course is very easy for me. Chem177, on the other hand, is much more difficult than I expected. The labs are three hours long and each lab procedure is written out by hand, as expected, however, the course load and difficulty was surprising. It is very easy to fall back on the work for that class. CHEM177 also uses word equation writers for all of the labs which is very time consuming and also a new tool. The professor is extremely nit-picky and I started to build a habit of going to office hours. Everything else isn't too bad, I just didn't expect how much work I had to do. The work piles up very quickly and it is very easy to fall behind. In comparison to high school, I was able to do work last minute and still get high grades- in college, in order to do well, you have to put in the work. Another thing I did not expect was how much a professor can impact my grade. Even if the course is relatively easy, if the professor is bad, then it is likely your grade will be bad.
As for CPSG, I wasn't expecting the course to discuss topics like anthropology and pseudoscience. I was expecting more content on biological changes to the earth like climate change. I was also expecting discussion on geology and fossils. There were also short discussions on climate change, but not as much as I thought. Outside the classroom activities were fun! As expected, we were given a bit more freedom in comparison to high school. I liked how in the D.C. field trip, we could choose when to go back and can walk around with our own freedom. I was also not expecting as much weekly reading was required. I knew that we were going to read three books, but I didn't expect to be reading two to three chapters a week.
On campus life was worse than I expected. I was expecting to get along with my roommate and be close with her but it is the exact opposite. She snores very loudly. She is also always in the dorm so I don't get a moment to myself. We hardly talk to each other, but that is probably for the best because her voice irritates me a lot. Also, as expected, the dining hall food isn't good. I have broken out into hives from time to time which is weird because I don't have any food allergies that I know of. In high school, I imagined that I would have much more freedom and have the ability to stay out late at night and as imagined, I do stay out at night, but usually it is to study at the library, especially during midterm/finals season. I really do enjoy the freedom. I love walking around just to spend time with myself especially during the fall. One thing I did not expect was the seasonal depression. With the amount of sunlight I'm getting drastically decreasing and not having the same support I did for the last 18 years, it is very easy to feel depressed.
Some academic advice I would give is to make sure to go to office hours. They will help with your grades a lot. I also recommend looking at planetterp or ratemyprofessor when registering for courses. The professor will make or break your grade so even if the course is supposed to be a GPA booster, with the wrong professor, it could potentially have the opposite effect. Most importantly, do assignments in advance.
Some non academic advice I would give is to firstly, get a single dorm if possible. I also strongly advise budgeting your money. I've accidentally spent over $600 in the first few months, so it is very important to track your finances. I also recommend going home as much as possible. In terms of friends: avoid people that make you feel bad about yourself. UMD is a very large school with more than 30,000 undergraduate students, you will find other friends. It is very important that you watch what you eat: with freedom, it is likely that you will overeat and the freshman fifteen will hit. Lastly, I noticed my skin getting noticeably worse since the summer: I'm not too sure if it is because of the water quality, poor air circulation, dry conditions, or the food but it is important to mentally prepare yourself for the fact that your skin will not look great at one point.